Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023

St. Jude dream Home Brings Home Miracles

Thirty-three years and $647 million nationwide. And it all started here.

If you do something every year for 33 years, you're bound to get better, and that appears to be the case for the annual St. Jude Children's Research Hospital fundraiser called the Dream Home Giveaway.

It was the inspiration of local pediatrician Donald Mack, who turned to St. Jude to treat his young patients. In fact, he was reportedly the first doctor to send an out-of-state patient to St. Jude. He eventually partnered with KTBS to promote the effort.

Since 1991, Dr. Mack's project has raised more than $40 million for St. Jude. The Memphis-based hospital treats children with catastrophic illnesses, giving them the hope of leading a more normal life. Nationally, the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway is one of the largest single-event fundraisers for St. Jude and has raised more than $647 million. This year, the program will include more than 40 St. Jude Dream Home Giveaways in cities nationwide.

"When Dr. Mack came to KTBS to tell us that somebody had donated a home to him, we said, ‘How can we help?’ He said, 'I want to give it away,'" according to George Sirven, station manager of KTBS/KPXJ. "We said this idea has merit; this idea can really take off if it's done correctly. And we put the best team on it: Rick Rowe, the one and only, and Jan [Elkins] and a host of others that not just promoted the drawing, but they bought into it. They saw the value, and they made it part of their own. Had that not have happened, I don't think it would have taken off as well as it did."

Jan Elkins, the community projects director for KTBS3 and KPXJ21, said no one imagined how successful it would be when the event started. "The people of the ArkLaTex are so generous that [they have] given more than $40 million to that hospital. We started it, and five years later, the second house was built [in another city].

"It is just a very generous community. We have a lot of St. Jude patients here. So, almost all of us know someone who has been affected," she said.

Megan Rook is the Gulf Coast advisor for ALSAC, the organization that is the energy behind the hospital. ALSAC stands for the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. It was founded by actor and entertainer Danny Thomas in 1957, and its sole mission is to raise the funds and awareness necessary to operate and maintain the hospital. It's estimated 89 percent of the funds required to sustain and grow St. Jude must be raised by ALSAC from donors.

Rook said those donors have come through year after year. "This year we have sold more tickets than ever before, and they are selling very fast. A lot of people support us every year." She said the Shreveport fundraiser is special because it was the first and provided the template for the project to expand into those 40 other cities.

She said the hospital is currently looking into expanding its services globally. Root explained the idea has gotten traction because children in need come from all over and because many small hospitals and clinics have contacted them looking for help in their areas. Those smaller units lack the resources to treat the diseases St. Jude wages its fight against aggressively. That's why St. Jude is looking for ways to make the lifesaving treatments they provide available globally.

Elkins said the desire to help children in need is the primary motivator for most of their dream home giveaway players to pony up $100 a ticket, but there is another. "Obviously, the chance to win a great house valued at $665,000 or a car, a Mazda, or a four-wheeler. First, it's the kids and the generous hearts of people, and second, it's the great prizes."

This year's slate of prizes also includes VISA gift cards valued at $2,000 and $5,000. The Dream Home itself is in the Duckwater Landing subdivision in Bossier City. The four bedrooms, three-bath home boasts an estimated 3,100 square feet of living space. It is designed with an open floor plan and includes a butler's pantry, an outdoor patio with a living area, a grilling station and a motorized screen. Rogers Homes and Construction oversaw the building of the home. Moffit Mazda and the Moffit family donated the 2023 Mazda CX-30. SWEPCO is giving away a $2,000 VISA gift card. Assurance Financial is giving away a $5,000 VISA gift card. G & C Honda donated the 2023 Honda Recon ATV.

While chance takers might end up with one of those prizes, they are guaranteed to provide much-needed financial support for the dream Danny Thomas had to cure childhood disease.

According to the St. Jude website, the $100 ticket helps St. Jude understand, treat and defeat childhood cancer and other lifethreatening diseases. The cost of those services varies, but all the proceeds are used for the general needs to run St. Jude, where no family ever receives a bill for transportation, housing, treatment or food.

"We knew right off the bat that this was a model that could work in any market across the country," Sirven said. "When we started talking to the folks at St. Jude, they started asking me, would you talk to this TV market? We said, absolutely, we will. And little by little, markets, first across the state, then across the region, and by then, the folks at St. Jude began creating an internal template that worked for them. Our template and the template that they used for other markets across the country is a little different. They needed to create something that they could take anywhere in the country. But they needed a TV station that would really be the guinea pig, and we were that.

"In television, this is a medium where emotions can be translated onto the viewer. And I think that the emotions of the people that were presenting this dream home and the reason where all this money was going being so strong that our viewers took that to heart and really got behind it and supported it from the very beginning," Sirven said.

Ticket sales have been brisk, according to Elkins and Rook, so if you hesitated, you might be out of luck. You can still watch the presentation on Aug. 27 on KPXJ CW21 from 1 to 3 p.m. to see the drawing for the house and all other prizes.

While the 15,500 Shreveport area tickets may already be gone, you can still donate to help save lives by visiting the St. Jude website at https://www.stjude.org.